Am D7 F G analysis

[Ceabeceabe]

Am D7 F G.

Is this chord progression just based on a G major scale but changing one note in the VII (F#dim) from f# to f ? Is there a better way to account for this? (Weirdly we could call D7 an F#dim to emphasize there is some chromatic movement going on)

If it were a Dm instead of a D7 this could be from a D Dorian scale, but based on what I see and hear it is a D7.

The progression is from an acoustic version of the Ryuichi Sakamoto / David Sylvian song World Citizen.

Don’t worry, when I play the song I am not thinking about any of this !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mPy5eO2HR4

[NormanKliman]

It’s always best to upload an example or at least provide a link to the music you’re asking about.

Without hearing an example, I’d say play an A minor or A minor pentatonic scale for the A minor, F and G chords. For the D7 chord, either change the F to F# (A Dorian) or just avoid the F/F# issue altogether.

It'll sound more natural if you express yourself with arpeggios in addition to diatonic and pentatonic scales.

[Wags]

Without see the actual notes it could parse several ways. You could see it as a couple of ii-V's with the F acting as an extension chord D-7.

[mr. beaumont]

Took a listen. Cool tune, new to me.

To my ears, unless there's a specific version you're speaking of, that D chord isn't a D7. It's more like a Dadd9, and as the song progresses, a G gets put in the bass there.

I'd say the song is very much in A minor. So yeah...if you're going to play an F on that D chord, an F# sounds better...but if I were tasked to take a solo on it, I'd think A minor pentatonic really, and maybe use D major chord tones specifically on that "D" chord, if I wanted to highlight it.

[Ceabeceabe]

Thanks for the comments all !!

Here is a link to one of the clearer LIVE acoustic performances of the song where to me most of the time that sounds and looks like a D7... or some version thereof...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mPy5eO2HR4

There are a couple of other live acoustic versions out there that sound basically the same, and then various studio versions that are a bit different from each other.

[mr. beaumont]

Originally Posted by Ceabeceabe

Thanks for the comments all !!

Here is a link to one of the clearer LIVE acoustic performances of the song where to me most of the time that sounds and looks like a D7... or some version thereof...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mPy5eO2HR4

There are a couple of other live acoustic versions out there that sound basically the same, and then various studio versions that are a bit different from each other.

Definitely a D7 there.

Though I'd still stick to thinking A minor and adjust for that one chord. Or really and truly, the chords hang around long enough to where I'd just play changes.

[elninobaby]

I hear both the D7 and the F as “dominant preparation” for the G. G is the dominant of C major, which is the relative major of A minor. Though the tune is in Am, progression often sounds like it wants to resolve to C as much as to Am. So I guess D7 and F might be an extended dominant preparation, if that’s a thing?

[Ceabeceabe]

Thanks all for your comments. Another shorthand could be:

A b c d e f# g Dorian

A b c d e f g aeolian

An A Dorian progression except substitute VI from parallel A Aolean scale.

I IV VI(sub) VII.

Sort of but doesn’t completely fit with my limited recent understanding of modal progressions.

The D7 and F sure make things interesting.

[mr. beaumont]

Guarantee you none of that was thought about in the writing of this song.

It's also the progression of U2's "One" now that I think of it...

[Doug Young]

Without hearing the tune, I'd say this could be considered a ii-V7-I chord progression (Am-D7-G) with a bVII substitution added (the F), which also acts as the dominant. Very common:

https://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes...-seventh.shtml

The article notes that on Revolver, the Beatles used the bVII on 7 of the 12 tunes. Apparently a sound they discovered and liked around that time, undoubtedly without knowing any theory behind it. It shows up all over the place.

[Tannin]

Without listening to the song, those 4 chords make a very common Am progression. Yes, the D7 is not diatonic but as you say it's only one note, and that note is quite possibly the most common and certainly one of the least jarring of all chromaticisims in a minor key - playing a major 6th instead of the minor 6th.

You'll hear that all the time. That old classic The House of the Rising Sun is an example: the third chord is a D major - same substitution: major 6th for a minor 6th. The same tune goes on to throw another surprise in the 7th chord: E major instead of E minor. That one is substituting the major 7th (D#) for the minor 7th (D natural). You could see that as suggesting that we are in A harmoinic minor rather than A natural minor, but the rest of the tune does not support that notion.

[Ceabeceabe]

Thanks all! I did post a link to the song in response to someone’s suggestion, and just added it to my original post. Not a huge surprise that many have used the progression, though interesting the different uses it can be put to. I also like there is more than one relatively uncomplicated theoretical analysis that can be applied.

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Ceabeceabe

Thanks all! I did post a link to the song in response to someone’s suggestion, and just added it to my original post. Not a huge surprise that many have used the progression, though interesting the different uses it can be put to. I also like there is more than one relatively uncomplicated theoretical analysis that can be applied.

If you want another example of a tune that goes Am, D, F, check out Stairway to Heaven :-) The intro is Am, D, F.... Then the verse, if I recall right, starts Am, C, D, F, G, so very similar, with a C thrown in for extra confusion.

[OddManOut]

Originally Posted by Ceabeceabe

Thanks all for your comments. Another shorthand could be:

A b c d e f# g Dorian

A b c d e f g aeolian

An A Dorian progression except substitute VI from parallel A Aolean scale.

Agreed with this analysis.


Nice tune!